Setting the Stage
by Eldonyx
Summary: For decades he worked in shadows, setting the stage, carefully manoeuvering and shaping the actors, but Darkness shall always have the last word.


_For decades he worked in shadows, setting the stage, carefully manoeuvering and shaping the actors, but Darkness shall always have the last word._

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AN:

Just a little piece I wrote to settle my headcannon about Sidious' involvement in events leading to Order 66, and an attempt to explain Anakin's behaviour in _Revenge of the Sith_ versus his character in _Clone Wars_.

Enjoy.

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 **Setting the Stage**

From his early years of apprenticeship into his years of mastery, Darth Sidious holds onto one certitude: someday, the galaxy will be his.

He has foreseen it; that doesn't mean he doesn't have to work for it – the Dark Side only favors the worthy, those who know what they want and dare take steps to _make it happen_.

The same holds true for obtaining the apprentice he wants, and doubly so for _this_ prospective apprentice.

Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One.

He starts early, and he starts small. Befriending the boy, subtly undermining his trust in his Jedi master. When they grow inseparable despite his efforts, he realises he will have to resort to more drastic measures.

Funny how often Obi-Wan Kenobi seems to attract trouble on missions from then on.

To Sidious' endlessly mounting frustration, however, the foolish young Jedi survives every attempt on his life, every orchestrated catastrophe. The Sith's interference is forging his enemy into something more formidable than he would have been otherwise, he knows, but such is the path of the Dark Side: everything has a price. His future apprentice will only profit himself from his current mentor's experience. Besides, no one is infallible: Kenobi's fate will catch up to him sooner or later, and even if it doesn't, Sidious' ultimate victory will only be all the more satisfying for it.

As he carefully orchestrates his numerous plans into maturation from the highest seat in the Senate, a decade passes by.

Soon he is ready; time to set things into motion, both for the galaxy and his future apprentice.

For the first, to start a war; for the second, to remove all anchors to the Light.

His first step is to arrange for a Tusken attack on a specific moisture farm and the kidnapping of its eldest female inhabitant, back on Tatooine. The near-death of one annoying but immensely useful senator comes next… From there, events unfold almost perfectly.

As essential as it might be for his plans of galactic domination, the war however soon proves to also be a hindrance on the Skywalker front.

Despite the horrors inherent to such things and the pressure of a command no Jedi has been trained for, the boy takes to war like a duck to water. Worse yet, he, as well as his soon-to-be ex-Master, turns out to be _good_ at it. Someday that skill will be an advantage for Sidious, he knows, but at the moment, it is mostly an obstacle in that the Kenobi-Skywalker team is almost constantly out in the field and thus away from the Sith Lord's influence.

He arranges to meet the boy as often as possible, sometimes going so far as to forge a reason to get him called back to Coruscant, but that is not enough: much to his frustration, the two Jedi's carefully sabotaged bond mends, becoming stronger than ever.

And then Kenobi has the gall to dump an apprentice on his ex-pupil, further tying him to the Light _and_ reducing the time he can spend with his future Sith Master.

It is clear right from the start: that cheeky little pest has to go.

As with Kenobi, however, that is easier said than done: the girl is being trained well, and Skywalker's almost possessive protectiveness makes any attempt to shorten her worthless existence complicated at best.

As years pass and his plans slowly bloom into fruition, he understands he will need to act a little more aggressively, and starts scheming anew.

His ploy is perfect. All possible outcomes can only benefit him and will inevitably ensure Tano's ruin.

She does not get herself killed while attempting to escape, nor does she die at the hands of the Republic, but the end result is the same: her trust in her Order and the Republic broken, she runs away like a frightened child, and her Master is left abandoned and fragile, his own trust shaken and his feelings in turmoil. More easily manipulated than ever before.

And alone, it is only a matter of time before the girl succumbs to the dangers sent her way…

There are other benefits to the whole debacle. It was highly mediatised, for one, and the public's opinion of the Jedi is brought down lower than ever.

It takes a few well-placed words from Chancellor Palpatine to the Council, an anonymous call or two to some specific journalists…

When the medias start digging, finding the Master behind the Padawan who was so unjustly victimized and bringing him into the limelight, he is instructed by the Council to humor them.

They've learned he fought for his pupil's innocence all along; that he's one of the best Generals of the Republic, the victor of countless battles and savior of many worlds. That he also happens to be a handsome young man with a daredevil attitude and a winning smile certainly doesn't harm either.

Thus the _Hero with no Fear_ , Jedi poster boy in this new propaganda campaign, is born; that Kenobi is swept up in the media's frenzy as well is accidental at first but very satisfying, considering the man's strong distaste for such attention.

With the whole galaxy suddenly looking at them, the pressure on the two Jedi rises exponentially. They were already being sent to lead the most difficult campaigns because of their skill, but now they can't seem to ever get a break.

Kenobi's (admittedly justified) reputation as the _Negotiator_ makes it only logical to send him on the most delicate missions on behalf of the Senate, preferably _without_ Skywalker's… often _explosive_ solutions anywhere nearby. And if some of those missions go horribly wrong, keeping him away for long periods of time and often nearly taking his life, well… they're at war, aren't they? And you can never trust those pesky Separatists…

On the other hand, Skywalker's effectiveness as a battlefield commander makes it all too easy to give him the long, hard campaigns, the ones that will exhaust him and drain his mental strength and resistance and will expose him to horrors untold times and times again. Kenobi is forever occupied elsewhere, of course, so let him face everything alone.

Whenever he is called back to Coruscant, let the medias hound him, the people adore him and watch his every move, the Council harass him over the mistakes he could not avoid, the lives he could not save. Let him never remain long enough to recuperate, or at a time when Kenobi might be able to reach him and truly _talk_. Ensure Amidala drowns under her own duties and the trouble she inevitably digs up herself, and that she cannot truly be _there_ either – not when it counts the most. Make him feel you're the only one he can always turn to for help, the only one he can confide in, the only one he can trust. Stroke his fire, his anger, his insecurity, his anguish, his destructiveness.

Erode his anchors, one by one. When he needs them most, shatter them.

It takes nearly a year for Skywalker to be suitably weakened, those who would help sufficiently estranged, but finally it is time to strike.

First he lets word reach his soon-to-be apprentice that Ahsoka Tano is in great danger, prompting an ill-prepared, unnecessary, Council-condemned rescue attempt that only causes the girl more trouble. The incident ends in a bitter argument between the ex-Padawan and her old Master and rips open the wounds from her leaving.

 _This_ is the time to act, the Dark Sides hisses, so Sidious arranges his own kidnapping.

When, predictably, Skywalker comes to the rescue, he is more unbalanced than ever before, snapping at Kenobi, his emotions running amok; but getting him to take the first step as a Sith apprentice and execute his predecessor in anger is still not so easy.

According to Sith tradition, that first ritual murder should be fueled by the new apprentice's own hate only, sealing his engagement on the path, but considering the circumstances, Sidious' generous use of Force persuasion in the process is entirely forgivable, he is certain.

He has better in store for Skywalker than foolish old Count Dooku, anyways, and soon, reluctance to make that kill or not, the Chosen One will be _his_.

XXX

A quarter of a century later, tumbling down a reactor shaft with the Dark laughing in his ears, he will briefly wonder if that might not have been a mistake.


End file.
